


Little Bird, Little Bird

by Dreadful Weather Today (TearoomSaloon)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, F/M, Hades and Persephone, Hannibal is Not a Cannibal, but he's king of the dead, everyone is a god unless otherwise specified, modern mythology au, so I guess that makes up for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 16:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2156646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TearoomSaloon/pseuds/Dreadful%20Weather%20Today
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alana Bloom is a goddess, far from home and across the ocean. She ducked from under her mother's wing to explore the rest of the world and got caught in Boston. Away from all she knows, there is one rule: don't get caught. Some gods are friendlier than others as she quickly discovers. The god who finds her out is not so nice.</p><p>Hades, Lord of the Dead, hides behind a pretty face; Hannibal Lecter, a long-time friend. But, oh, he's loved her a long time, and he steals her from the world above, starting a chain of events that could crash the world down, starting from the bottom up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Bird, Little Bird

**Author's Note:**

> Things to take note:  
> This is set in present-day, and the pecking order remains as it should in myth. Demeter kept Persephone away from the world, but that doesn't help me so I'm having her get away. 
> 
> Hades isn't evil, keep that in mind.
> 
> I want to do the chapter names in line with the myth, and I'm going to clarify that the rape of Persephone refers to her abduction, as the original definition of rape referred to the forceful taking of something without a sexual emphasis.  
> Honestly, the better statue is the Rape of Proserpina, which is by Bernini and completely worth checking out.

There was one rule: don't get caught.

Don't get caught, and you have nothing to worry about. Stay hidden, stay safe, that was it. Mistakes were made, but they were cleared up quickly and effectively. Unless, of course, someone got revealed to another  _god_. Then everything was up in the air.

Alana Bloom broke this rule. By accident, but it still got broken. Between the rejuvenated flowers, ripe fruit, and green healthy grass, she was spotted. If the eyes had been human, things might have been easier.

She awoke with a start for the fifth week in a row, head pounding and heart rushing to pump blood. It was the Beast again, the creature that lurked in the space below the world, its pelt dark as nothingness and its eyes bright like star fire. Its wispy coat bustled like fog rolling off the ocean. It was deaf and blind in its labyrinth, but it was still a terror. It had been haunting her dreams for too long now. Too many four in the mornings had happened for her to function properly.

"Nightmares again?" asked Will, handing her a coffee.

"They don't seem to want to leave." She rubbed her eyes, stuck in this new perpetual state of tired.

"What are they of again?"

"The creature in the maze." She took a drink, recoiling. "Do you  _always_ take this black?"

"Yeah, wakes me up better. Which one?"

"Not the minotaur, the dark thing. Have you seen it?"

He shook his head. "That's not my realm of expertise. I carry things from place A to place B, that's it."

"How dull."

He elbowed her lightly. "Better than perpetually gardening."

"I bring flowers and joy to little children, you deliver the mail. I think I have a more fulfilling job."

"Yeah, yeah. I still catch the bad guys."

"And teach humans. Speaking of which, you've got about fifteen minutes to class."

He quirked a smile, wandering from her makeshift office. "Are we still on for lunch?"

"You'll have to call me, or I'll forget."

* * *

 

"I'm nervous about her," Will told Jack in passing. "I think she's getting infected or something. What could happen, root rot?"

"She's not a  _tree_." He nearly laughed. "But she's gotten caught."

" _How?_ Of all of us, she's the most careful."

"That's not entirely true, and it hasn't protected her."

Will narrowed his eyes. "You know why, don't you?"

"It's out of my jurisdiction."

"What could  _possibly_ be out of your jurisdiction?"

"Most things. I'm not a Fury, I have little sway in the courts."

"But you're important up top, Jack, more so than the rest of us."

"Not important enough, unfortunately." He sighed, watching the way Will made an attempt at eye contact, the way he stood his ground on this. "I'm sorry. I can't burn this web."

* * *

 

It had happened quickly. Too quickly, he decided looking back. She had been a radiant flower under his wing, blooming as time past, becoming more beautiful the more she excelled. There wasn't a rule against falling in love with humans, but it wasn't advisable. They withered, they died. They turned back into the earth from which they were sculpted, never to return or be reborn. He should know; he carried them down.

It felt logical, then, to seek out any possible way to preserve her, to press her petals into a book and keep her forever, safe and unchanged by time. But, of course, there were no books on the subject, no scrolls or papers or writings. It was taboo. Let what must die, die. That was his law to hold, and if he broke it, there was no hope.

Her mistake was a blessing.

She didn't noticed him behind her and she touched the dead dying lilies on his desk. Their petals flourished and the stalks grew strong, holding the bulbs high. She hummed lowly, happy with herself, happy with the new living flowers.

He closed the door and she jumped.

"Persephone."

His pens went flying as she spun around, fear drenching her features. "Oh  _fuck_."

"Don't panic, you've been careful. It's taken years for my to find out."

She swore again, backing up. "I can't wipe your mind,  _why can't I wipe your mind_ _?_ "

He reached out to the newly reborn lilies. His fingers grazed their leaves lightly, and they crumpled, petals falling, stems turning brown and dead. A hand shot to her mouth, and she looked more worried than before.

"Hello, darling."

There was a desk and a chair between them now. "I expected you to be Apollo, if you were anyone, not Hades. Not death."

"Isn't the universe funny in that respect?"

"I'm not laughing." She took a deep breath, pushing her hair from her face. "So now what? Do you sap my energy and leave my body to rot and carry my soul down? Or do you do something worse? I've yet to die, I don't know how this works."

"You think I  _kill_ other gods?"

"I bring life to plants, I expect you do something to stop me."

"Not by killing you." He stepped around the desk and she flinched back. This was going to be so  _tiresome_. "I'm taking you with me." _  
_

Behind another chair. "Where?"

"Home, of course."

She gathered all the anger she was able to muster, glowering at him. "My mother will hear of this."

"Demeter doesn't frighten me. Come, little bird, you are to be a queen."

She screamed when he threw her over his shoulder, terrified and panicked and unwilling to go. Her fight was useless, and she was helpless in his arms. He touched the door of his office, watching as the handle grew a skeletal face. Her yell was cut off when the gate closed, sealing her in his realm of the dead.


End file.
